This invention relates to a traffic control device and more particularly to a portable control device.
Traffic devices of a portable design are required for numerous reasons, the most common of which is for highway construction sites but such devices are also valuable for use where accidents have occurred or where weather conditions have created an unsafe highway condition or where permanent traffic signals have malfunctioned.
Portable traffic control devices are also valuable when special events create a temporary need to control an abnormal heavy traffic flow or where lack of power supply exists.
Portable traffic control devices are found in the prior art. Some, as would be expected are superior to others. One important feature of a portable traffic control device is its ability to place the lights over the roadway and not down on the road surface where they will go undetected by an unsuspecting motorist.
Of greatest importance is to provide a portable traffic light which can be easily transported, put up readily by one person and can be produced economically. In this way, every authority can maintain an inventory of portable traffic lights and readily utilize them as needed.
The alternative to portable traffic control devices is to use flag persons or law enforcement people neither of which may be available. In any event, persons providing traffic directions under such circumstances are frequently placed in danger and often they are not as effective as the use of a traffic control device since in the dark and in inclement weather, a person cannot be as easily noticed as a traffic light.